SermonIndex Audio Sermons
SermonIndex - Promoting Revival to this Generation
Give To SermonIndex
Discussion Forum : Revivals And Church History : A CITY SHAKEN -mau

Print Thread (PDF)

PosterThread
sermonindex
Moderator



Joined: 2002/12/11
Posts: 39795
Canada

Online!
 A CITY SHAKEN -mau


[b]A CITY SHAKEN[/b]
[i]by Ray Mau[/i]

A Visitation by God. Victoria, B.C., Canada, April 1923.

"In multitudes, people have wept their way to the Cross and received the assurance of salvation for their souls - many testifying to that afterwards. Multitudes who went forward for healing received their healing and are giveing praise and glory to God today. I have heard the dumb speak after prayer and anointing and laying on of hands. The deaf have received their hearing. The blind can see, and the lame walk. All the ministers in Victoria were lined up with the Campaign, so that it was inter-denominational, those who were at all skeptical at first became enthusiastic before the campaign ended. In all my religious experience I have never known anything so wonderful. It takes us back to the days of Finney, and even to the Apostolic days."

John Smith Patterson, Minister
St. Paul's Presbyterian Church

The above is one of many testimonials that described the wonderment of a visitation by God upon this fair city. What had begun as an evangelistic crusade became one of the greatest revivals Victoria has seen to date. God used an evangelist, Dr. Charles Price from California, who came at the request of Dr. Sipprill, pastor of Metropolitan Methodist Church (now United) and many other ministers in the city. The following is a summary in chronological order of the events that started in Victoria, B.C. in April 1923 and subsequent events that followed into the next year.


First Meeting. Dr. Price said, "we need a shaking up! The church is smug and complacent and the men on the outside are too happy in their sin. Our cities need to be turned inside out from center to circumference."
Victoria was definitely shaken!


The Media Reports Daily. Both city newspapers, the Times and the Colonist, reported how each night Dr. Price prayed, all present would fix their eyes on Christ and that God would save souls and heal bodies. About fifty people suffering with tumors, cancers, lameness, rheumatism, blindness, deafness, dumbness, and other physical ailments would crowd to the front for the first healing service that first evening.

Goiter Disappears. April 18th, the Rev. W.J. Knott claims that the goiter he had been suffering from for over ten years left. Along with the healing of his goiter, his eyes were healed after 28 years of wearing glasses, his headaches and stomach trouble also disappeared.

Hundreds Led to Jesus Christ. Each evening the crowds packed the church long before the meeting. Night after night found the church filled to overflowing; sometimes hundreds thronging the doors on the outside listening to Dr. Price. Some evenings two meetings were held, and children's services were held on Saturday afternoons.

One Sixth of City Attended Meetings. April 21st, 6000 crowded into the big Willows Arena (Oak Bay) to hear the gospel message. At this time the total population of Victoria was 38,300. Hundreds went forward to repent of their sinful lives and accept Jesus as Savior.

Chinese Throng Healing Service. Special meetings were held in Chinatown, with Dr. Price preaching through an interpreter at the Variety Theater. Four hundred came forward to the altar call and several were healed. Before the campaign ended, over 9,000 attended the meetings with over 600 going to the altar. Mrs. Walter Lee, the wife of the young Chinese interpreter, who was dying of incurable tuberculosis, was brought to the stage on a cushioned stretcher, unable to sit or stand. Rev. T.J. McCrossan, an eye witness, said: "She was at once anointed and prayed for in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and immediately went under the power of God. After about an hour, she suddenly sat up, and said, "Praise God! He has healed me." Then she proved it by leaping to her feet and preaching a short sermon. As tears of joy trickled down her face, she gave another altar call, and fully one hundred more Chinese came to the Lord."

Dr. Charles Price in Vancouver. The same scenes in Victoria were repeated on an even larger scale in Vancouver. The Arena seated 10,000, and according to the owner of the building, Mr. Frank Patrick, "the evangelistic party addressed over a quarter of a million people in the space of three weeks. On more than one occasion, I could feel the very building tremble with the singing of the multitude who were unable to wait for the opening hymn."

Victoria Pastors Support Dr. Price in Vancouver. May 15th, the Daily Colonist reported that the Vancouver Ministers shunned Dr. C.S. Price. In Victoria, the ministerial association rallied to support Dr. Price and many traveled to Vancouver to sit on the platform with him. The Times reported, May 16th, that forty ministers sat on the platform in Vancouver. There was a difference of opinion amongst the ministers in Vancouver regarding the claim of Dr. Charles Price that by invoking the Almighty he could effect immediate and miraculous cures in contravention of all scientific law. This difference of opinion amongst the religious leaders divided the church of Vancouver into three camps. Dr. Price and his evangelistic party went on across Canada and held meetings in various cities.

Portland, Oregon Opposes Price Movement. Dr. W.B. Hinson of Portland, Oregon sent word to the Christian Institute of Victoria in a wire that he was opposed to the Price movement and was sending particulars regarding his stand. Dr. Clem Davies, pastor of the Centennial Church, one of the largest in Victoria also opposed Dr. Price.

March 6, 1924 - Dr. Price Plans to Return to Victoria. Approximately one year later, Dr. Price announced plans to conduct services again in Victoria. The Rev. Dr. Clem Davies claimed it would be too bad to open some wounds that are healing. The Victoria Ministerial Association chose not to offer its support to any united campaign. The Rev. P.S. Patterson, pastor of St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, who was active in supporting Dr. Price in the last campaign, refused to comment on the forthcoming mission other than asserting that the matter was receiving the serious consideration of the Ministerial Association.

May 9, 1924 -- Incident Forces Detainment of Dr. Price. An incident regarding a patient of Dr. Ernest Hall forces police to detain Dr. Price. It was alleged that the doctor's patient attended one of the meetings and was anointed and prayed for by Dr. Price. This woman was now in a state of ill health supposedly influenced by Dr. Price. Dr. A.G. Price, Medical Health Officer to the city, was summoned. He, in turn requested Dr. C.S. Price, the evangelist, to come to the house of the patient on Fort Street. Dr. C.S. Price declared that he had not seen this patient at any of his meetings. Dr. Price was ordered into custody for examination. He was placed momentarily in lockup and was released within an hour when legal counsel was secured. The woman was reported unconscious and being treated at the Jubilee Hospital.

May 10, 1924 -- City Police Commission Engaged with Advice from Chicago Bible Institute Representative. Dr. William P. White, a Presbyterian clergyman with headquarters in Portland, San Francisco and San Diego, and a well-known Chicago Bible Institute worker, stated that he would appear before the City Police Commission to protest against the work of Evangelist Price. "I do not regard these preachings as biblical," Dr. White stated. "But most pitiable are the results of the healing campaign." Dr. White stated that he had examined hundreds of cases pronounced healed but was unable to find one single case healed of any organic disease. The City Police Commission discussed this problem and finally declared that the healing meetings resided outside their jurisdiction.

Police Commissioner Attends Healing Service. Police Commissioner, W.E. Staneland, after hurrying through Police Commission business, attended the services held by Dr. C.S. Price. Dr. Ernest Hall also attended the services and watched the proceedings with keen interest. He said he would not like to form any opinion on Dr. Price's cures until he had seen him work further. "The time has gone when we can say that certain things can't be done," Dr. Hall stated.
That same evening, Dr. C.S. Price preached and took for his text the familiar story of Paul and Silas to show the power of God to save a man in the hour of trial. He told of the imprisionment of these two men and the miraculous destruction of their prision. "It was not because these men had passed through a university that they did these works," Dr. Price said. "It was the spirit of God in them. No one appreciates the value of secular education more than I, but in spiritual things, while it may be an asset, it is the dynamic Spirit of God that works through a man to make him able to minister to the world for which Jesus died. Paul cast out devils because he had this spirit in him, and I do not see why a minister of this day also should not have this spirit and do these things. When you analyze the spiritual truth and the works of the apostles we see the power was given in the message and not in the messenger. Jesus did not have to resort to healing to prove His divine sonship."

Dr. Price went on, asserting that the healing power was not confined to the early age of Christianity. "Jesus did not leave a church charged with the work of reforming a world blighted by sin, without leaving that church the power to complete that task. I believe that His was a complete atonement, and I believe that here tonight he can cure our ills. The United States is in the midst of a great religious revival. In an age of materialism, the message of God was returning to the hearts of men, and the faith of their fathers was coming back to men as well. The blood of Jesus is still powerful in Victoria," he declared. "Those sandal feet still walk the highways, those nail-pierced hands still are placed on the heads of the heavy-laden."

There are reams of newspaper articles, testimonies and stories of God's mercy, love and healing visited upon the city and the church in Victoria in 1923 and 1924. This account just scratches the surface.


_________________
SI Moderator - Greg Gordon

 2006/12/23 22:29Profile
sermonindex
Moderator



Joined: 2002/12/11
Posts: 39795
Canada

Online!
 Re: A CITY SHAKEN -mau

Saints,

This is the same city that I am currently moved to, I am really praying that God will move in revival. Please do pray with me for this city of Victoria which in latin means "Victory"!


_________________
SI Moderator - Greg Gordon

 2006/12/23 22:30Profile





©2002-2024 SermonIndex.net
Promoting Revival to this Generation.
Privacy Policy